Buy a domain in Playcode

You can search for a domain and buy it without leaving Playcode. Once you pay, Playcode registers the name, sets up its DNS, issues the HTTPS certificate and points it at your project. There is no DNS panel to open and no record for you to copy anywhere.

Before you start

• A paid plan. Custom domains are part of Pro and Max. The Free plan does not include them - see pricing.
• A payment method on the workspace. A domain is charged straight to the workspace's card. It is never taken from your AI credits.
• A published project, if you want the address live right away. You can buy a name before you publish anything. It is registered and safe - it just waits, pointing nowhere, until you choose a site for it.

Where to start

Buying and connecting are one flow, and you can open it from either side:

• From a project's Publish flow - Get your domain.
• From Settings → Domains - Get a new address.

You can also ask the AI in a project's chat to find a name for you. It shows the price and waits for your confirmation before anything is charged.

Searching for a name

Type the name you want. Playcode checks whether it is available and shows the real price as you type: the first year, and what it renews at every year after that.

• You see the exact name you typed, when we sell that extension, plus alternatives on the other extensions we sell.
• A name that is already taken shows "Taken - is it yours?" with a link to connect it instead.
• If we do not sell an extension yet, Playcode says so instead of quietly offering you something else. You can still connect that domain if you already own it.

Prices differ by extension and they change over time, so they live in one place: domain renewals, expiry and fees.

What you confirm before paying

One screen shows everything that is about to happen:

• Which project it points at. Buying from a project preselects that project, and you can pick a different one.
• The price, the renewal price and the renewal date. The two prices are shown together, because for some extensions they are not the same number.
• Auto-renew, on by default. You can switch it off here, or later, at any time.
• WHOIS privacy, included. Your home address stays out of the public registration record.
• The registrant contact. It is prefilled from your account. ICANN requires a real contact for every registration, and it is not shown publicly.

The charge goes to the payment method on file for the workspace.

What happens automatically after you pay

This is the part that is usually a checklist of DNS settings somewhere else. Playcode does all of it:

1. Registers the name for the registrant contact you confirmed.
2. Creates the domain's DNS and writes every record itself - Playcode runs the DNS for a domain bought here, so there is nothing to configure at a DNS provider.
3. Issues the HTTPS certificate, and renews that certificate by itself from then on.
4. Points the address at the project you chose.
5. Calls it live only once public DNS really answers for the name - the link to your site appears at that moment, not before.

This usually takes a few minutes. Up to about an hour is still normal, because the internet learns new names at its own pace. You can close the window - the work continues, and the domain shows up under Settings → Domains either way.

One thing you do have to do. ICANN requires the registrant email address to be confirmed. A verification message arrives shortly after the purchase, and the registry suspends the domain if it is not confirmed within 15 days. Details are in domain renewals, expiry and fees.

The bare name, and www

A domain you buy here goes live on the bare name - yourbusiness.com, with no www in front. That is deliberate, not a missing step.

The www version is a separate name, so it is an opt-in. Turn it on with one tap on the address's page under Settings → Domains, and Playcode wires it and secures it the same way - nothing for you to add.

Where the domain lives afterwards

Every address the workspace owns or uses is listed under Settings → Domains. A domain belongs to the workspace, not to one project, so it can point at any project in that workspace.

Open a single address there and you can:

• See whether it is answering worldwide, and re-check it on demand.
• Choose the site it points at, if it is not pointing at one yet.
• Turn www on or off.
• See the renewal date and price, and switch auto-renew on or off.
• See the WHOIS privacy and registrant email state, and resend the verification email.
• Move the domain to another workspace you belong to.
• Unlock it and get its transfer code, if you ever want to move it to another registrar.

Buying here, or connecting a domain you already own

Both work. They differ in how much is left for you to do.

A domain bought in Playcode

• We register it, we run its DNS, and we issue and renew its certificate.
• There is nothing to copy into another provider's control panel.
• Renewal is billed here, on the same card, with reminders before it happens - see domain renewals, expiry and fees.
• It is still your domain. You can move it to another registrar from the same page - registry rules only block a transfer in the first 60 days after registration.

A domain you already own elsewhere

• The registration and its yearly bill stay with your current registrar.
• Playcode shows the setting to add where the domain is managed, and keeps watching until it appears - then HTTPS switches on by itself.
• The steps for that path are in how to connect your own domain.

Either way, the free Playcode address your project already has keeps working - .playcode.site for a published site, .playcode.run for a Cloud app. A domain of your own is an addition, never a replacement.

What is charged, and when

• At purchase - the first year, charged once to the workspace's payment method.
• Each year after - the renewal, charged 30 days before the expiry date while auto-renew is on.
• If the registration cannot be completed - the payment is refunded automatically and in full.

The price for each extension, the renewal rules and what happens if a domain is allowed to lapse are all in domain renewals, expiry and fees.

Where to go next

• Domain renewals, expiry and fees - prices, the reminders we send, and the expiry timeline.
• How to connect your own domain - for a domain registered somewhere else.
• Pricing - which plans include custom domains.

Stuck on a specific name? Write to support@playcode.io and include the domain.